U-M School of Nursing staff member among first to receive presidential Arts Initiative pilot grant

Tanaka Chavanduka, MPH, a research associate in the U-M School of Nursing's Center for Sexuality and Health Disparities, is among the first to receive a pilot grant as part of the presidential Arts Initiative, announced last fall by university president Mark Schlissel. 

The initiative kicked off its startup phase in January 2020, and put out a request for proposals to all faculty, students and staff at U-M’s three campuses in February. Reviewers, made up of arts leaders that are part of the initiative’s working group, selected eight projects from more than 80 submissions. Project leads reworked their proposals to accommodate the impacts of the pandemic, and initiative leadership scaled back the number and scale of projects to reflect limitations on what kinds of activity people can undertake safely as well as budget constraints across campus.

Chavanduka's project, The Art of Queer Health Sciences, asked students at the Stamps School of Art & Design who identify as queer to create illustrations in response to scientific visualizations with the aim of reducing sexual health inequities.

“We see the pilot projects as a way to enlist the expertise of people from across the university in testing ways for the arts to elevate the many kinds of work we do: research and creative practice, teaching and learning, advocacy and community engagement,” said Jonathan Massey, dean of the U-M Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning and co-chair of the Arts Initiative.

Learn more about the initiative and the other project awardees from Michigan News.